Flash lamp



L. M. EVANS AND G. W. STElNMANN.

FLASH LAMP.

APPUCATION FILED JUNE I6, 1920.

L. M. EVANS AND G. W. STEINIVIANN.

FLASH LAMP.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE I6, 1920.

1 4%G6A5Q. Patented Feb M 1922 Z SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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concern: i

United States of'America,

, PA H-N O eat ssur ncesw, s'rnxmn, orwasnmoron, nrsrmo'r 6r 1 6,4 v I a3,; Application met nine 16,

' Be it known thatwe, Louis M. Evans and 'Gnonon STEINMANN, citizens ofthe residing, respectively, at Washington, in the District of Columb a,have invented a certain new and useful 1 Improvement ,in Flash Lamps, ofwhich the followin is a specification.

- This invention refines to improvements in electric flashlamps-and itis the principal obi'ect ofthe invention to provide a port-. ab e selfcontained electric flashlamp having a novel formof circuit closingmeans'there- .for,"whereby the incandescent lamp in thesame may beenergized at will by a user.

fltis also an object of the invention to prol vide-a novel form ofshutter for the. lamp .well, asfull open position serving to close whichcan ,be adjusted to limit and direct light rays. emitted 'from the lamponto a confined-or restricted area or when desired,

opened to'its full position for furnishing its maximumof light, movementof said shutter from closed position to even a partially as theilluminating circuit through the lamp.

Another object of the invention is to 'provide a novel form ofcircuitclosing means for-the lamp ,Which is of exceedinglycom-. pactarrangement, and because of its simplicity of construction, offers apractical,

- positive, a'n" rdurable device when reduced same wi1l be retained insue to ene'ral'gf' et another object of the invention resides intheprovision'of an advantageous form ofholder for-the lamp batterieswhereby the osition as :will insure ropeneontact there'o and hence,

in art pointed out hereina render the amp;, i'iista nt1yavailable foruse at all'times.

. Other objects will be art obvious and ter. J

n order that the invention and its mode of application may bereadily-understood by persons-skilled in the art, we have, in theaccompanying illustrative drawings, and in the detailed .followingdescription based thereon set out a convenient and'satisfactor emodiment ofthe same. "Til these, drawings:

Figure l is a longitudinal section through" the improved-lam thebatteries being-removed;- .Figure 2 is a fragmentary perspective l I"specification of Letters intent.

'viev of the housing 1 the lamp,

6;; that the two 1m, seen no. acute with one side of the shutter; and,

Figure 6 isa perspective view of the type of battery holder employed,but one battery being arranged therein.

.Having more particular reference to the drawings, in connection withwhich like characters of reference will designate corres onding partsthroughout the several-views, t e improved fiashlamp comprises a casing1 open at one end and ada ted to receive through such open end, a atteryholder indicated in its entirety by the numeral 2, said. holderconsisting of a base plate 3 corres onding in shape and size to the openend 0 4 formed of insulating material secured thereto, a contact plate,also of insulating material, indicated by the numeral 5 belng secured tothe upper ends of said posts 4.- and carryin thereon spaced contacts 6which, as wil be noted, are interconnected by a suitable conductor 7.Helical springs 8 are arranged upon the base plate 3 .and connectedthereto, serving as means for enthe casing 1, having spaced uprightsPatentedFeb.14, 1922.

gaging. the lower ends of batteries 9 arranged 1n the holder andmaintaining the negative and positive poles of such batteries inengagement with the contacts 6,the negative p0 e of one of thesebatteries being grounded through the adjacenthelical spring 8 ontothemctal base plate '3. The other helical pring is. connected by aconductor passing.

through'theupri ht 4 to one of the contacts atteries may be in series.

Suitable lugs 10 are formed on the'inner side of the marginal flange ofthe base plate 3 andare adapted to beengaged by a spring catch 11secured; tothe inner side of the housing 1 adjacentits open end andcarrying a finger piece 11 which is received through an opening in anadjacent portion of the housing, thus affording means for permittingdisengagement of said catch from the particular lug 10 engaged therebyin order that the battery holder may be freely removed from the housing.

An opening 12 is arranged in one side wall of the housing 1 adjacent itsclosed end and, obviously, serves to permit projection of light raysfrom the lamp, hereinafter described, a shutter 13 being pivoted to saidwall as at 1 1 and formed with segmental sides 15 having notches 16 inthe marginal portion of one end thereof adapted to be engaged by acurved spring catch 17 secured at one end to the inner side of the endwall of the housing as at 18, while its free end is formed with a curvedbearing member 19 normally adapted to ride over the notched marginalportion of said segmental side and .to be engaged in the notches 16whereby said shutter may be releasably held in an adjusted position,thus allowing the light rays projected from the lamp to be limited orrestricted to a desired area. When the shutter 13 is in full openposition, it is to be noted that the curved end 19 will engage behindthe adjacent straight edge of the segmental side 15 and in consequence,will serve to re leasably maintain said shutter in its full openposition.

Secured to the inner side of the end wall of the housing 1 is a plate 20having the usual screw threaded lamp socket therein for receiving anincandescent lamp 21, said plate being preferably formed with a re-.fiecting surface. A contact plate 22 is also secured to the inner sideof the end wall of the housing 1 and is engaged by one end of theincandescent lamp 21, while a spring contact arm 23 is secured to saidend wall and insulated therefrom by the interpositioning of aninsulating strip 24 between the same and its connection with such endwall, an insulated bearing plate 25 being carried on the intermediateportion of the spring arm and so disposed as to be engaged by theadjacent segmental side 15 of the shutter 13 when said shutter has beenmoved to a partially closed position. As the shutter is moved to a fullclosed position, it will be noted that thesegmental side 15 will engageYthe bearing plate 25 in the arm 23 and 1n consequence, said arm will be'flexed downwardly so that the outer or free end of the same will bedisengaged from the contact platev 22, thus breaking circuit as betweensaid arm 23and contact spring 22. An inwardly extending spring contact26 is carried by the contact arm 23 and has its free inner end extendedat substantially right angles as at 27 whereby the same will be engagedwith one of the positive poles of the intercoupled batteries 9 whereby,when the shutter is moved to open position, a complete circuit will beestablished through the incandescent lamp 21, it being borne in mind inthis particular connection that the opposite side of the circuit iseffected through the grounding of its negative side of the same throughthe end plate 3 and the housin 1.

. it may be here noted that the positioning of the incandescent lamp 21with relation to the opening 12 in the housing 1 is such as to permitthe projection of li ht rays emitted by the incandescent lamp rom thehousing 1, the reflecting surface on the plate 20 serving, obviously,'tomultiply or at least intensify, such rays.

In-using our improved flash-lamp and assuming that the same has beenassembled in the manner hereinbefore outlined, to close circuit throughthe incandescent lamp 21 it is only necessary that the shutter 13 beswung upon its pivot for a distance sufiiciently to disengage itssegmental side 15 from, the bearing plate 25 on the spring arm 23, sucharm immediately returning into engagement with the contact plate 22 andthereby completing an. electric circuit through the lamp 21. Of course,the shutter may be as readily moved to full open position when effectingconnection between the spring contact arm 23 and the contact,

plate 22, permitting the lamp 21 to continue functioning. To break thecircuit through the incandescent lamp 21, the shutter 13 is swung to afull closed position, at which time the segmental side 15 thereof willengage the bearing plate 25 on the spring contact arm 23 and flex thesame downwardly to bring about disengagement of such 1 arm with thecontact plate 22. The spring catch.17 will serve as means for releasablymaintaining the shutter 13 in an adjusted osition, since the curved end19 thereof will engage in the adjacent one of the notches 16 formed inthe particular se mental side 15 provided therewith. By thisarrangement, it will be appreciated that the lamp is especiallyadvantageous for use in places where the therefrom onto a limited orrestricted area is desired, suchrfor exampleas in military operations,where it is the desire of the user of a li ht of any nature, to shieldthe same from t e eyes of an enemy.

As 'hereinbefore set out, by reason of the novel type of combinedcircult closing means and shutter providedmy portable selfcontainedelectric flashlamp, we have reduced a device which, beoauseofits simp lfied and,

compact construction and arrangement, will be found durable, practicaland positive in projection oflight rays operation when. subjected toeven the rou hest of'use. r

anifestly, the construction shown is capable of considerablemodification, and such modification as is within the scope of ourclaims, we consider within the spirit of our invention.

We claim:

A portable self-contained flash lamp, comprising a housing, a batteryholder, snugly received in said holder and adapted to close one end ofthe same, said holder including,

spaced plates. for receiving batteries there between and electricallyinterconnecting the same; spring meanson the bottom plate for yieldedlyengaging the adjacent ends of the batteries, an incandescent lampsupported in the batter portion of said housing adjacent an open orm inone of its side walls, circuit closing means for controllingenergization of sald lamp and shutter pivoting to said housin forregulating the passage of light ra sat rough the opening in the housingan adapted, at times, to direct such rays downwardly from the opening,said shutter co-operating with said circuit means to actuate the sameupon its movement to an open or artl opened position.

L UI M. EVANS.

GEORGE W. STEINMANN.

